Title : The Alipore Bomb Trial Judgment.
Date of Publication: 30 December 2010 (First Edition)
12 March 2012 (Second Edition)
Compiler and Editor: Anurag Banerjee
Description: The unabridged version of the Alipore Bomb Trial Judgment rendered by C. P. Beachcroft on 6 May 1909.
Number of pages: 149.
Price: Rs. 190.
Title : Sri Aurobindo: His Political Life and Activities.
Date of Publication: 31 December 2010 (First Edition)
12 March 2012 (Second Edition)
Compiler and Editor: Anurag Banerjee
Preface: Prof. Kittu Reddy
Description: It is a chronological study of Sri Aurobindo’s political life from 1906 to 1910 through British Government documents, press coverage, memoirs of his political colleagues as well as his own autobiographical account. Hundreds of documents collected from British Government records (most of which have been published in this book for the first time) and press cuttings—both being more than a century old—have been incorporated in this volume. In addition to the aforesaid documents and press coverage, the book includes rare letters written to Sri Aurobindo by Nationalist leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Surendranath Banerjea and others. It also includes the reminiscences of the likes of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Sudhir Kumar Sarkar (who were Sri Aurobindo’s associates in the Nationalist movement) about the political activities of Sri Aurobindo.A chief attraction of this book is the complete text of the speech of Chittaranjan Das which he had rendered while defending Sri Aurobindo in the Alipore Bomb Trial. Another major attraction of this book is six extremely rare articles written on Sri Aurobindo by Bepin Chandra Pal, Charu Chandra Dutta, Hemendra Prasad Ghose, S. R. Das, Suresh Deb and Birendra Chandra Sen. And the reader is expected to find as many as nineteen speeches and two interviews of Sri Aurobindo in this book.
In his scholarly preface to this book, Prof. Kittu Reddy comments about the book and its author:
“In this book compiled by Anurag Banerjee of the Overman Foundation, a huge amount of material connected with Sri Aurobindo has been revealed for the first time. This is from the first two periods – 1893 to 1910. It is possible that much of this material has been published in different books and at different times. However, this is the first time that all this material is found in one book. This will be of great help to all researchers in the political life of Sri Aurobindo.
“Besides the notes written by Sri Aurobindo himself on his political life, there are very interesting details regarding his political activity which include the deliberations of Bengal National College, the details of the Calcutta Congress in 1906 and the Surat Congress in 1907. In addition, there are also many references taken from the journals and newspapers of the time; all this makes very not only very interesting reading but also gives a deep insight to the political atmosphere of the time. Serious historians will benefit from this huge data base that has been created by this compilation. For a close study takes one back to the atmosphere of the times. One almost relives the history of that period.
“One of the most delightfully attractive parts of the compilation is the personal anecdotes in the Appendix written by contemporaries of Sri Aurobindo; these give one a wonderful insight into the human personality of Sri Aurobindo and at the same time show his spiritual side. The Karma Yogi that Sri Aurobindo was is revealed most beautifully in these articles. Indeed these can serve as an inspiration to the modern youth and present day politicians. For that indeed is the need of the hour.
“I am sure this wonderful compilation will be of great use not only to research scholars, but will also help in giving guidance for the future development of India. I believe that taken with all the literature written later in Pondicherry, this compilation will give a comprehensive view of Sri Aurobindo’s political vision and serve as an inspiration for the future.”
Number of pages: 450.
Price: Rs. 490.
Title: Ananya Nishikanto (Out of print)
Date of Publication: 22 January 2011
Author: Anurag Banerjee.
Language: Bengali.
Description: The first e-book published in Bengali, it comprises of some humorous anecdotes as well as about thirty-four unpublished poems of Nishikanto Raichowdhury (1909-1973), one of the greatest mystic poets of Sri Aurobindo Ashram whom Sri Aurobindo had called ‘the Brahmaputra of Inspiration’, most of which have been collected from individuals who were very close to the late poet. A very important attraction of this book is a set of rare epistolary exchanges between Sri Aurobindo and Nishikanto. This book also includes a number of poems of Sri Aurobindo and K.D. Sethna alias Amal Kiran translated into Bengali by Nishikanto and four unpublished poems of the late poet in his own handwriting.
Number of pages: 40 pages.
Price: Rs. 20 for both e-copies and hardcopies.
Title: Sujata Nahar: Loving Homage.
Date of Publication:12 December 2011.
Editors: Nirmal Nahar and Anurag Banerjee
Description: This tri-lingual book—with a foreword by Samir Kanta Gupta—is a collection of tributes paid to Sujata Nahar, the noted authoress and sadhika of the Integral Yoga, in English, Bengali and French. The book also includes several unpublished letters of Sujata Nahar and an occult vision narrated by her.
Number of pages: 150.
Price: Rs. 120.
Title: Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore.
Date of Publication: 31 December 2011.
Compiler and Editor: Anurag Banerjee.
Description: It is a bilingual anthology of articles written on the two great luminaries of the bygone century, Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore. A tribute to Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his 150th Birth Anniversary, this book comprises of articles in English and Bengali contributed by Dr. Prithwindranath Mukherjee, R. Y. Deshpande, Dr. Prema Nandakumar, Dr. Murali Sivaramakrishnan, Saurendranath Basu, Nirmal Singh Nahar, Krishna Chakravarti, Dalia Sarkar, Supriyo Bhattacharya and Anurag Banerjee. Articles written on the said theme by Nolini Kanta Gupta, Dilip Kumar Roy, K. D. Sethna and Chittaranjan Goswami have also been republished in this volume.
Two major attractions of this book are the translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Namaskar’ (rendered into English by Ksitish Chandra Sen) written on Sri Aurobindo when the latter was arrested for the first time in 1907 and Rabindranath’s tribute to Sri Aurobindo published in the ‘Modern Review’ magazine in 1928 which he authored soon after his meeting with Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry in that very year.
Number of pages: 115.
Price: Rs. 160.
Title: The Mother: The Birth and Growth of a Flame.
Date of Publication: 8 January 2012.
Author: Anurag Banerjee.
Foreword: Dr. Ananda Reddy, Director, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research,Pondicherry.
Description: This book is a detailed account of the Mother’s pre-Ashram years and covers the course of her life in France, Algeria and Japan till her arrival in Pondicherry and taking charge of Sri Aurobindo Ashram after Sri Aurobindo’s retirement into seclusion in 1926.
Divided into five sections, ‘The Mother: The Birth and Growth of a Flame’ comprises of a number of unpublished materials compiled from the writings of Mira Ismalun (the Mother’s grandmother), Max Theon, Barindra Kumar Ghose and Haradhan Bakshi to name a few along with unknown details and facts selected from the rare writings of Paul Richard, Motilal Roy, Alexandra David-Neel, Suresh Chandra Chakrabarti, Anilbaran Roy, Rajani Kanta Palit and Jaya Devi.
In his scholarly preface to this book, Dr. Ananda Reddy comments about the book and its author:
‘I suppose the work done by Mr. Banerjee belongs to the “present time itself” in which we see efforts to “return towards inner self-discovery, an inner seeking and thinking, a new attempt at mystic experience, a groping after the inner self, a reawakening to some sense of the truth and power of the spirit…”
‘Mr. Banerjee’s painstaking compilation of the details of the Mother’s life is more a narration of the Mother’s life where you see the birth and growth of a divine flame in a human form. It starts from the Mother’s pre-Mirra days, that is with her previous births as recollected by her, and it goes till the Victory Day,24th November, 1926, when Sri Aurobindo withdrew for purposes of sadhana putting the Mother in charge of every one of the sadhaks in the Ashram. The reading is captivating and inspiring because Anurag’s mind displays a mental faith which has an “unquestioning acceptance of all the Mother is, says and does.”… And it is this deep faith and sincerity that mark this book. Distinctly, Anurag’s mind seems to be consciously surrendering to the subject of his study in the spirit of a sadhak of integral yoga and does not display the naked audacity of a researcher who wants to measure himself with the divine being who is the subject of his research!’
Number of pages: 385.
Price: Rs. 475.
Title: The Alipore Bomb Trial: Selected Documents.
Date of Publication: 12 March 2012.
Compiler and Editor: Anurag Banerjee.
Description: A sequel to ‘The Alipore Bomb Trial Judgment’, this book includes a number of unpublished documents of the Alipore Bomb Trial like Confessions of the Chief Accused, Statements of the Accused in the Lower Court further to their Confessions, Examination of the Accused Further to their Confessions, Petitions Presented to the Court of Sessions, Opinions of Assessors and High Court Appeal along with the First Information Report of the trial.
Number of pages: 200.
Price: Rs. 290.
Title: Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Vision of Life.
Date of Publication: 4 May 2012
Compiler and Editor: Anurag Banerjee
Description:This book—divided into five sections—comprises of Sri Aurobindo’s writings on ethics, religion, spirituality, reason, vital attraction and death.
The first section which includes the writings of Sri Aurobindo on ‘Ethics’ deals with topics like True Ethics, Ethical Impulses, Instincts and Activities, Ideal Ethical Law, Ethical Good and Evil and Hedonistic Values, Ethics and Karma, The Root of Ethical Ideals, Insufficiency of Ethics, Ethics in the Primitive Society, A Comparison between Aesthetic and Ethical Man and their Cultures, Ethics in Society and Practical Life, The Ethical Being and Reason, Ethics, Morality and the Dharma, Ethics and the Gnostic Life, Ethical Being and the Divine, etc.
The second section includes the writings of Sri Aurobindo on ‘Religion and Spirituality’ and deals with topics like Religion: Its Meaning and Message, Religion and Reason, Religion: Its Scope and Shortcomings, Indian Religions, Spirituality: Its Meaning and Essence, Religion vis-à-vis Spirituality, Religion, Spirituality and Society, Indian Religion and Spirituality, The Character of Indian Religion: A Study and Dealings of Indian Religion with Life.
The third section includes Sri Aurobindo’s writings on ‘Reason’ and deals with topic like Reason and Man, Reason vis-à-vis Life, Reason and Society, Reason and Intellect and Reason: Its Scope and Shortcomings.
The fourth section includes Sri Aurobindo’s writings on ‘Vital Attraction’ and focuses on topics like Sex-troubles and Self-Control, Sex, Marriage and Sadhana, Sexual Impulses vis-à-vis Yoga, Importance of Celibacy, Sex and Its Conquest, etc.
The fifth section includes Sri Aurobindo’s writings on the subject of ‘Death’ and deals with topics like Necessity of Death, Soul’s Journey after Death, The Psychic Being after Death, The Seeker’s Attitude towards Death, Death and Its Gospel, etc.
Number of pages: 211
Price: Rs. 300.
